Bad Air Days in Columbia County, Washington: 4 a Year
4 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 275 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% particle days).
Which months to watch
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and September. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What actually helps here
- Particles (wildfire smoke, dust) cause enough bad days here to matter. A HEPA purifier sized to your bedroom removes them; run it with windows shut on bad days.
- Upgrade the furnace or AC filter to MERV 13 so the whole house is filtered, not just one room.
The record for Columbia
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 1 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 4. It has got worse. The worst recent year was 2017, with 9 bad days on 333 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-20 | 259 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-09-12 | 258 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-09-13 | 246 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-09-15 | 207 | PM2.5 |
| 2018-08-20 | 192 | PM2.5 |
An ordinary day in Columbia
Across 3,530 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Columbia County rated Good on 87% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 12%. The median day sat at AQI 30; one day in ten went above 53.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)62%2,178 days
- ozone38%1,352 days
Columbia County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 330 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 94 |
| 2024 | 366 | 331 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 90 |
| 2023 | 365 | 319 | 43 | 3 | 3 | 39 | 259 |
| 2022 | 365 | 314 | 47 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 135 |
| 2021 | 365 | 304 | 53 | 8 | 5 | 39 | 172 |
| 2020 | 365 | 323 | 34 | 8 | 8 | 23 | 258 |
| 2019 | 365 | 322 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 72 |
| 2018 | 307 | 250 | 50 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 192 |
| 2017 | 333 | 249 | 75 | 9 | 3 | 28 | 184 |
| 2016 | 334 | 318 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 60 |
| 2015 | 362 | 342 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 104 |
| 2014 | 347 | 315 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 75 |
| 2013 | 340 | 283 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 83 |
| 2012 | 344 | 297 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 75 |
| 2011 | 363 | 320 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 71 |
| 2010 | 365 | 336 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 67 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Yakima County13/yr
- Chelan County11/yr
- Okanogan County11/yr
- Stevens County9/yr
- Asotin County8/yr
- King County8/yr
- Snohomish County7/yr
- Benton County6/yr
How this is counted
A bad air day is a day the county's daily AQI from EPA AirData went above 100, the level where EPA tells children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease to cut back outdoors. Monitors do not run every day, so yearly counts are scaled to 365 days. This is the record, not today's air: for that, check AirNow. More on the method in how the county numbers are made, on the AQI 100 line in what counts as a bad air day.